One - Luigi Pirandello

Summary

One, No One, and One Hundred Thousand tells the story of Vitangelo Moscarda, a wealthy and idle man who, after a seemingly trivial comment from his wife about his slightly crooked nose, undergoes an intense existential crisis. He realizes that the image he holds of himself ("one") is not the same as the countless images others have of him ("one hundred thousand"), leading him to feel like "no one" in his own right. Driven by a desperate need to destroy all these external, false selves, Vitangelo embarks on a radical and destructive path. He deliberately alienates his wife, his business partners, and society by dismantling his inherited bank, giving away his fortune, and rejecting all conventional expectations. This journey leads him to be labeled insane, culminating in him giving up his entire identity and fortune to found an almshouse where he lives anonymously, ultimately finding peace in the dissolution of his fixed self and embracing the continuous flux of existence.

Book Sections

Section 1

The novel opens with Vitangelo Moscarda, a man of leisure who lives off his inherited wealth. His wife, Dida, casually points out that his nose is slightly crooked and that he always cocks it to one side. This mundane observation shatters Vitangelo's complacent existence. He had never noticed this detail himself and is struck by the realization that Dida sees him differently than he sees himself. This leads him to an obsessive self-examination in the mirror, where he perceives a stranger looking back. He understands that the person he believes himself to be ("one") is not the same as the "Vitangelo" that others perceive. In fact, there are countless versions of him ("one hundred thousand") in the minds of others, and none of them truly align with his internal self, leaving him feeling like "no one" in his authentic essence. This discovery prompts him to undertake a drastic mission: to destroy all these external "Vitangelos" and eradicate any fixed identity. His first target is the public image of him as a "usurer," inherited from his father's banking business.

Character Name	Characteristics	Motivations
Vitangelo Moscarda	Wealthy, idle, introspective, sensitive, existentialist	Driven by a sudden realization of his fragmented identity, motivated to destroy all external selves and achieve authentic selfhood or non-selfhood.
Dida	Vitangelo's wife, practical, conventional, initially naive	Unintentionally sparks Vitangelo's crisis with a casual remark; later distressed by his erratic behavior and motivated by preserving their conventional life.

Section 2

Vitangelo attempts to explain his profound realization to Dida, but she cannot grasp the philosophical depth of his crisis. Her practical mind struggles to understand his anguish over external perceptions and the fluidity of identity. This inability to communicate deepens Vitangelo's sense of alienation from his wife. He views her as a stranger living with an image of him that is utterly false. He feels compelled to dismantle the "Vitangelo" that Dida believes she knows, observing his habits, gestures, and expressions through her imagined eyes, further solidifying the chasm between his internal self and the external "mask" he presents. He becomes increasingly detached, feeling that even his physical body is not authentically "his" but rather a vessel for others' interpretations.

Section 3

To dismantle the "usurer" image associated with his family's bank, Vitangelo begins acting erratically and irresponsibly. He forgives debts, gives money away to clients who are struggling, and deliberately undermines the established financial practices that his father had built. This radical shift in behavior alarms his business partners, Signor Scarda and Fonsìa, who believe he is losing his mind. They become increasingly concerned about the future of the bank. During this period, Vitangelo begins to engage more deeply with Anna Rosa, a friend of Dida. Anna Rosa, more intellectually inclined and perhaps more sympathetic to abstract ideas, seems to understand, or at least entertain, Vitangelo's philosophical quandaries, though she might not fully grasp their full implications. He uses his interactions with her as another means to test and reconstruct his identity outside of conventional expectations.

Character Name	Characteristics	Motivations
Anna Rosa	Friend of Dida and Vitangelo, intellectual, somewhat eccentric, sympathetic to Vitangelo's abstract ideas	Seeks intellectual connection and understanding, possibly drawn to Vitangelo's unconventional nature, later acts out of concern.
Signor Scarda	Vitangelo's business partner and lawyer, pragmatic, concerned	Motivated by protecting the bank's financial interests and Vitangelo's perceived sanity; upholds conventional business practices.
Matteo Moscarda	Vitangelo's deceased father, built the bank (mentioned)	His legacy as a "usurer" and financier serves as the initial catalyst for Vitangelo's radical actions against the inherited business.

Section 4

Vitangelo's increasingly bizarre behavior at the bank and his public defiance of social norms lead to severe consequences. The townspeople label him as mad, and his actions draw legal scrutiny. Signor Scarda, acting on behalf of the bank and out of concern (or perhaps self-interest), initiates legal proceedings to have Vitangelo declared legally incompetent. Dida, unable to tolerate his destructive path and the public shame, leaves him, returning to her parents and seeking an annulment. Vitangelo finds himself completely isolated, his every action misinterpreted and condemned by society. Paradoxically, he finds a perverse satisfaction in seeing the various "one hundred thousand" images of himself crumble, even if it means being ostracized and labeled insane. This destruction is, for him, a step closer to becoming "no one."

Section 5

To avoid being officially declared insane and institutionalized against his will, Vitangelo proposes a radical solution. He offers to use all his remaining fortune to establish an almshouse (or hospice) for the poor and the elderly. This act, while appearing to be a selfless philanthropic gesture, is for Vitangelo another calculated move to divest himself of identity, responsibility, and the burdens of his former life. By giving away everything, he seeks to become completely unbound. His proposal is accepted, but with a condition: he must live in the almshouse as one of its residents, subject to the supervision of Doctor Fileno, its director. This allows him to shed his name and social standing, effectively removing him from the world that demanded a fixed identity from him.

Character Name	Characteristics	Motivations
Doctor Fileno	Director of the almshouse/asylum; professional, cautious	Manages the institution and its residents; motivated by professional duty and the need to oversee Vitangelo's unusual arrangement.

Section 6

Anna Rosa, who has continued to observe Vitangelo with a mix of fascination, concern, and perhaps a degree of intellectual curiosity, visits him at the almshouse. She is deeply troubled by his self-destructive trajectory and his increasingly detached state, feeling he is losing himself entirely. In a moment of intense emotional turmoil and a desperate attempt to shock him back to "reality" or to prevent his complete dissolution, she shoots him in the arm. This violent act is ambiguous; it could be interpreted as a misguided attempt to "save" him by forcing him to confront a physical reality, or as a final, desperate imposition of an external definition upon him through pain and suffering.

Section 7

Vitangelo survives the gunshot wound. He refuses to press charges against Anna Rosa, demonstrating his further detachment from conventional societal reactions and legal systems. The incident, rather than bringing him back to any "reality," serves as a further catalyst for his liberation. He understands that even an act of violence, an attempt to define him through suffering, is merely another external perception, another attempt to impose a fixed image. He becomes even more profoundly detached from the world of human constructs, names, and fixed identities. He embraces the pain as part of the continuous flux of existence, shedding the last vestiges of "Vitangelo Moscarda," the person society tried to define.

Section 8

In the final section, Vitangelo fully embraces his new existence. He lives in the almshouse, not as its founder, or as a patient, but simply as an anonymous resident. He observes the natural world around him – the changing seasons, the trees, the sky, the flowing water – and merges with it. He rejects the concept of a name, a fixed identity, a personal history, or any individual self. He exists purely in the present moment, continuously becoming and dissolving, "no one." He finds profound peace in this state of perpetual transformation, free from the burden of being "one" or "one hundred thousand." The novel concludes with him laughing at the very idea of a fixed identity, having completely embraced the boundless, ever-changing flow of life without a name or a self.

Genre

Philosophical novel, modernist novel, existential novel, psychological novel, tragicomedy.

Author Information

Luigi Pirandello (1867-1936) was an Italian dramatist, novelist, poet, and short story writer. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1934 "for his bold and ingenious revival of the dramatic and scenic art." Pirandello's work is characterized by its exploration of illusion versus reality, the multiplicity of identity, and the masks people wear in society. His most famous plays include "Six Characters in Search of an Author" and "Henry IV." He often challenged the conventional notions of self and truth, making him a pivotal figure in 20th-century literature.

Moral

The primary moral or theme of One, No One, and One Hundred Thousand centers on the inherently fluid and multifaceted nature of identity. It asserts that a fixed, singular self is an illusion, a construct imposed by societal expectations and the varying perceptions of others. True liberation, the novel suggests, lies in the radical act of letting go of the need for a defined self and embracing the continuous, ever-changing flow of existence. It also highlights the profound alienation that arises when an individual becomes aware of the irreconcilable gap between their internal self-perception and how they are perceived by the multitude of others.

Curiosities

• Luigi Pirandello considered One, No One, and One Hundred Thousand to be his most profound and complex work. He worked on it intermittently for 17 years, starting as early as 1909 and finally publishing it in 1926.
• The novel's central themes of fragmented identity, the relativity of truth, and the masks people wear are fundamental to Pirandello's entire literary output, especially his acclaimed plays, making this novel a crucial text for understanding his philosophical worldview.
• The striking title, "Uno, nessuno e centomila" (One, No One, and One Hundred Thousand), perfectly encapsulates the protagonist Vitangelo Moscarda's existential journey and the core philosophical concept explored throughout the book.
• Vitangelo Moscarda is often seen as a significant precursor to the protagonists found in later existentialist literature, grappling with similar questions of selfhood, meaninglessness, and authenticity in a fragmented world.